NC Spammer sentenced 9 years

I was wondering what people thought of this. Is 9 years too harsh for sending hundreds of thousands of unwanted e-mails or is it too light?

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A North Carolina man was sentenced to nine years in prison for sending hundreds of thousands of unwanted e-mail messages, Virginia prosecutors said Wednesday.

Jeremy Jaynes of Raleigh was found guilty under a Virginia state law that sets limits on the number of e-mails marketers can send in a given time period and prohibits them from using fake e-mail addresses, Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said.

Jaynes' sister, Jessica DeGroot, was also found guilty and fined $7,500, Kilgore said. An associate, Richard Rutkowski, was found not guilty.

Jaynes, who used the alias Gaven Stubberfield, was ranked by watchdog group The Spamhaus Project as the eighth-most prolific spammer in the world when he was arrested last December.

The messages sent out by Jaynes advertised penny stocks, low mortgage rates and software to erase Internet browsing records, Virginia officials said. Jaynes sent out more than 100,000 such messages over a 30-day period in July and August 2003 in violation of state law, according to the charges.

DeGroot was convicted after prosecutors proved that she used her credit card to help the operation.

"This is a major victory for Virginians and all Americans," Kilgore said in a statement. Jaynes' attorney was not immediately available for comment.

Although both Jaynes and DeGroot lived in North Carolina, Virginia asserted jurisdiction because they sent messages through server computers located in the state.

Roughly 50 percent of the world's Internet traffic passes through Virginia, home to big Internet companies like MCI and Time Warner's America Online unit.

Many forms of spam are also illegal under a national law that took effect in January.
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http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5438340.html

 

Yeah, I saw that too. 9 years in jail is insane. That's more than many crimes with violence or for defrauding shareholders (Enron) or taxpayers (Halliburton) of millions of $$$. But that's another story. Maybe he should have contributed more to the GOP "electoral fund".

He should have been banned from using the Internet for 9 years though, just like they did with Mitnick.

 

i could go outside and beat a woman unconcious and then rape her and get less time then that

 

Seriously, I don't think the punishment fit the crime.

 

Phew, I though you meant me.....

 

I am probably going to get a big bashing for this statement, BUT I am glad he got the jail term he did. Spammers are always trying to get around any type of software or program anyone uses to prevent spam. I hope to see a lot more jail terms of this type plus if there is anyway I can help to produce those I am happy to. I HATE SPAMMERS.

I dont want to see emails coming from god knows what kind of company trying to sell me drugs to make your *&^% bigger or give you longer staying power or anything else. My wife is a Doctor and she has told me with these kind of companies you dont know where they are getting these drugs or if their shelf life has expired or anything else.

The US has strict policies on drugs that no other country uses. This helps protect consumers in the US purchasing these drugs. Places like Canada and Europe dont enforce these same restrictions as the US.

 

9 years is a crazy amount of time!! I think they are annoying and it's probably along the same lines as theft... would you get 9 years for theft?

 

Well, I agree that the punishment does not fit the crime, when compared to other crimes but i really hate junk mail, and maybe this will send a message to other spammers and they will back off a little.

 

It's a bit unfair though that 1 person gets over time just to deter other spammers.

I was just reading the article... Jaynes allegedly tried to send 7.7 million spams in a day!! and that she raked approx $24 million from selling via spam.

 

LOL, what's the new "pad" like NC?

 

LV Homes..

Do you realize how long NINE years is? Nobody deserves that much time for sending spam...

 

I agree. It says in the report that they will be formally sentenced in February where the judge may change the length of the sentence.

 

I would have thought 1 year is alot, but 9!!!

I understand why they're doing it but also think it's a bit much.

 

Nine years for him will make others think twice.

If I had a choice he would have had to spend all nine WITH Martha.

 

Welcome to the forums Accurate.

Who's Martha?

 

Martha Stuart, Weir...

http://www.marthastewart.com/

Welcome Accurate1 - that's funny, but harsh, it's Marsha! That's a fate worse then death.

 

Is that the thing about the stock broker?

 

To me, this sends the message that our justice system is not "objective" or "fair".

 

Well I will say, yes it is a little much for the crime, but as it was stated by another poster, it will send a message and maybe others will think twice before doing it.

Those spammers that send this JUNK out and believe they cant be traced, well think again, cause if you are caught well as it was said , think about spending 9 years in prison to make a little pocket change. IS IT WORTH IT!!

 

If the punishment is consistently enforced Spammers might get the message. I don't see consistent enforcement happening anytime soon however.